Joseph Lyons | National Museum of Australia Prime Minister from 6 January 1932 to 7 April 1939 Right Hon. Joseph Lyons. Photo: National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an23311073. Joe Lyons was the Premier of Tasmania before entering federal parliament. He was one of our longest serving Prime Ministers and co-founded the United Australia Party, which held government from 1931 through to 1941. Lyons died while still in office in 1939, and his wife entered federal politics herself. She was the first woman elected to the House of Representatives and the first female member of a federal ministry. Beginnings Joseph Aloysius Lyons was born in Stanley, Tasmania, on 15 September 1879. He was known as Joe. He was the fourth of eight children born to Michael Lyons and Ellen Carroll, both of whose parents were Irish immigrants. Joe's father Michael failed in a series of enterprises - as hotel keeper, farmer, butcher and baker - before losing his family's savings on the 1887 Melbourne Cup. He suffered a nervous breakdown and was unable to support his family.

Joe attended a Catholic convent school in Ulverstone, but from the age of nine he had to help support his family by working variously as an errand boy, a printer's assistant and a farm labourer. When he was 12 he moved back to Stanley to live with his mother's sisters, Hetty and Mary Carroll, and to attend the local government school full time. He became a pupil-teacher in 1895, finally qualifying as a teacher in 1901. He taught in small schools in the north west of Tasmania until 1907, when he won a studentship at Tasmania's first teachers' college in Hobart. After graduating he taught in Launceston and Hobart. Joe Lyons was influenced by the Irish radicalism of his mother and aunts and, after being involved in debating while a junior teacher, he joined the Workers' Political League, which was the forerunner of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in Tasmania. He was very critical of people with large landholding interests and was in frequent conflict with his employer, the Tasmanian Education Department, for his political activities.

Lyons resigned from the teaching service in 1909 to contest the seat of Wilmot in the state Legislative Assembly. He was horsewhipped during the campaign by a large landowner he had criticised. Once elected, he promoted a series of progressive reforms, including free medical treatment and education for children, a state medical scheme, reform of the Legislative Council, aid to farmers, factory legislation and the breaking up of large estates. In 1912 Lyons was elected president of the state ALP branch. In 1914 he became deputy leader of the parliamentary ALP. From April 1914 to April 1916 he served as Treasurer, Minister for Education and Minister for Railways in John Earle's ALP government. During this period he reformed the Education Department, abolished school fees, improved teachers' conditions and pay, and had Tasmania's first high schools built in Hobart and Launceston. The Easter Uprising in Dublin in 1916 reawakened his sense of Irish nationalism; he became vice-president of the Hobart United Irish League that year.

Lyons opposed conscription and campaigned strongly for the 'No' vote in the conscription referenda in 1916 and 1917. When the ALP split over conscription in November 1916, Earle resigned as parliamentary party leader in Tasmania and Lyons was elected to replace him. He spent almost seven years as state opposition leader from 1916 to 1923. Lyons stood unsuccessfully as the ALP candidate for the federal seat of Darwin (in Tasmania) at the general election on December 1919. He became Premier of Tasmania on 25 October 1923 when the Nationalist government of Walter Lee fell after several Nationalists deserted the party. Lyons was appointed Premier at the head of a minority ALP government. As well as being Premier he took the Treasury and Railways portfolios. He remained Treasurer for the five and a half years he was Premier. Lyons' state ALP government survived through judicious management of the state economy. His consensual approach won supporters from the Nationalists, helping the ALP retain government at the June 1925 general election.

The Nationalists eventually regrouped, however, and were returned to government by a narrow margin at the next state election in May 1928. He married Enid Muriel Burnell in 1915. They had twelve children! Entry to federal politics Lyons quit state politics to enter the federal sphere at the suggestion of the federal parliamentary ALP leader, James Henry Scullin. He contested the federal seat of Wilmot for the ALP at the general election on 12 October 1929, and won comfortably. He held his seat through the next three general elections: 1931, 1934 and 1937. The 1929 election brought the ALP back into government for the first time in 13 years. (Labor had remained out of office since the split over conscription in November 1916.) A week after Scullin formally took office on 22 October 1929 the stock market crisis in New York - the Wall Street Crash - set off a complex series of corporate failures.

This resulted in the collapse of investment, mounting unemployment, falling commodity prices and a period of general worldwide economic stagnation known as the Great Depression. By 1930 the Australian unemployment rate was reaching 10 per cent, the highest level since the depression of the early 1890s. Scullin gave Lyons the portfolios of Postmaster-General, and Works and Railways. Lyons held both ministries for the next 15 months, until he resigned from Cabinet on 26 January 1931. While Scullin was overseas from August 1930-January 1931, Lyons served as Acting Treasurer. In this role Lyons presented a plan of action to the ALP caucus which had been developed by Treasury to respond to the Depression. The plan was for a balanced budget and a reduction in government expenditure, including reduced salaries for public servants. It also featured stabilisation of internal prices through monetary controls, reduced interest rates and provision of credit for industry to stimulate production. Caucus rejected his plan in favour of more radical, inflationary proposals by former Treasurer EG Theodore for creating credit and expanding the deficit.

Caucus then went even further, against the advice of both Lyons and Theodore, to defer repayment of an overseas loan due on 15 December. Lyons, threatening to resign, refused to defer the repayment and was supported by cables from Scullin who was in the UK at the time. Lyons' difficulties with the ALP caucus continued throughout December 1930-January 1931. Caucus accused him of collaborating with the Leader of the Opposition, JG Latham, who was suggesting a cross-party government of national unity. When Scullin returned to Australia on 6 January 1931, he affirmed Lyons' policies as Acting Treasurer but ignored his wish to become Treasurer. Lyons resigned from the ministry in protest on 29 January and, soon after, defected from the ALP. Others followed. Lyons became the principal figure in a new body, the 'All For Australia League', which formed from ALP defectors and dissident Nationalists. In March-May 1931 the league worked to establish a new party, the United Australia Party (UAP) from the merger of Lyons' followers, the Nationalists and anti-Labor citizens' groups.

Lyons was elected to UAP leadership unopposed, and Latham became his deputy. Lyons announced the new opposition arrangements in parliament on 7 May 1931, to the accompaniment of vehement denunciations from his former ALP comrades. Scullin's ALP government fell through the loss of a confidence motion on 25 November 1931, when UAP opposition and Lang Labor (another group of ALP defectors led by the NSW premier) combined to defeat the government. Parliament was then dissolved. In the subsequent general election on 19 December 1931, the ALP was bundled from office by an electorate battered by the depression, tired of ALP disunity and dissatisfied with government's handling of the economy. UAP won an absolute majority and was able to form a government without having to rely on a coalition with the Country Party. Prime Minister Joseph Lyons Lyons assumed prime ministership on 6 January 1932. His first major task as Prime Minister was to deal with an action by JT Lang's government in New South Wales, which had decided to withhold interest payments on British loans, in defiance of the federal government.

To maintain faith with the bond holders, Lyons' government paid the interest, then passed the Financial Agreement Enforcement Act to recoup the moneys by appropriating New South Wales funds. The problem was resolved on 13 May 1932 when the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Game, dismissed Lang. With the political and financial crises of 1931-1932 behind him, Lyons settled into his role as head of the UAP government. His government implemented the Premiers' Plan for handling the Depression, which the former Scullin ALP government had devised. He led the UAP to victory at the general elections on 15 September 1934, and 23 October 1937. At the October election the UAP lost its absolute majority and was forced to enter into coalition with the Country Party, whose leader, Earle Page, became Deputy Prime Minister. Lyons' chief success as Prime Minister was to restore stability to the government following the onset of the Great Depression and the turbulent events surrounding the ALP split of 1931. He also succeeded in holding the UAP together for seven years.

As Prime Minister he had considerable popular appeal, his reputation as a 'family man' helping him out here. (The Lyons family was the first to use the Prime Minister's Lodge in Canberra as a family home.) Australia made a slow recovery from the Great Depression of 1932-1939. Lyons' health began to fail as he came under increasing pressure from tensions within the UAP, from a revitalised ALP (now under John Curtin's leadership) and from criticism of Australia's defence as a second World War became more likely. By late 1938-early 1939, Lyons, now ailing, began losing control of the UAP as several potential challenges to his leadership emerged. To restore unity, he tried to persuade Stanley Melbourne Bruce, the former Nationalist Prime Minister, to return to parliament and become UAP leader. These negotiations broke down, however. Among Lyons' chief critics was Robert Gordon Menzies, his Attorney-General, Minister for Industry and UAP deputy leader, who resigned these positions on 20 March 1939 in protest over the government's failure to implement its national insurance scheme.

Lyons died of a heart attack in Sydney on 7 April 1939 and was buried in Devonport, Tasmania, after memorial services in Sydney and Canberra. On Lyons' death, Earle Page became caretaker Prime Minister for 18 days, until the UAP elected RG Menzies as Lyons' replacement on 26 March 1939. Postscript Four years after Lyons' death, his widow, Enid Lyons (1897-1981), won the seat of Darwin, Tasmania, at the 1943 federal general election; the first woman to be elected to the House of Representatives. She held the seat through the next three general elections until resigning in 1951 because of ill health. Appointed Vice President of the Executive Council in RG Menzies' Liberal-Country Party coalition government in 1949, she became the first female member of federal cabinet. She subsequently became a newspaper columnist, wrote three books, and served on the ABC Board and Elizabethan National Theatre Trust.

Legislation Biography - Joseph Aloysius (Joe) Lyons - Australian Dictionary of Biography Australian Dictionary of Biography Tip: searches only the name field Tip: Use double quotes to search for a phrase This article was published in Australian Dictionary of Biography , Volume 10, (MUP), 1986 Joseph Aloysius Lyons (1879-1939), by unknown photographer, 1932-39 National Library of Australia, nla.pic-an12266314 Joseph Aloysius (Joe) Lyons (1879-1939), schoolteacher, premier and prime minister, was born on 15 September 1879 at Stanley, Tasmania, son of Irish-born parents Michael Henry Lyons and his wife Ellen, née Carroll. His early education was at St Joseph's Convent School, Ulverstone. Michael Lyons had little success as a hotelkeeper, farmer, butcher and baker. In 1887 he lost all of the family's money speculating on the Melbourne Cup. He suffered a breakdown and became unable to care for his wife and eight children.

When 9 young Joe helped to support the family by working as errand boy, farm labourer and printer's devil for the Coastal News at Ulverstone. He was saved from drudgery by two aunts, the Misses Carroll, who supported him when he returned to school at 12. Guided by a sympathetic teacher at Stanley State School, John Scott, Lyons was appointed a monitor, assisting with the education of younger children at an annual salary of £15. He became a pupil-teacher in 1895 and qualified in 1901, teaching at small country schools. At Smithton, Lyons took up debating and developed quickly as a platform speaker. Much influenced by the Irish radicalism of his mother, and perceiving the strength of the Protestant landholders in the small communities of northern Tasmania, he joined the North-West League of the Workers' Political League, the forerunner of the Australian Labor Party in Tasmania. But the Education Department warned him against engaging in politics. It was the first of many clashes between Lyons and the department, but he soon resumed political activity as a critic of the education system. In 1907 Lyons became one of the pupils at Tasmania's first teacher training college.

He taught in Launceston and Hobart, then resigned to contest the State seat of Wilmot for Labor in 1909. He campaigned vigorously. Horsewhipped by a local landholder whom he had criticized, Lyons was awarded damages and believed that the incident enabled him to win the election. In parliament he at first was inclined to talk too much and seemed to take himself too seriously. The Labor caucus lacked talent, and Lyons took a lead, concentrating on educational issues such as the need for post-primary state schools and equal pay for women teachers. He urged the breaking up of big estates, factory legislation, free education and medical treatment for children, a state-controlled medical scheme, aid for small farmers and reform of the Legislative Council. In 1912 Lyons was elected president of the State branch, and in January 1914 became deputy leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party. From April 1914 to April 1916 he was treasurer, minister for education, and minister for railways in the Earle Labor government. He was able to reform the Education Department, abolishing school fees and improving pay and conditions for teachers, although he failed to effect equal pay.

He authorized the building of several schools, including the first high schools in Hobart and Launceston. Lyons married Enid Muriel Burnell on 28 April 1915, after a short courtship. He was 35 and minister for education, she was a 17-year-old trainee teacher. His request raised some problems for Enid's father, who pointed out that if the suitor had not been Mr Lyons there would have been objections on the grounds of age and religion. Enid became an enthusiastic convert to Catholicism. Lyons always abhorred violence, opposing capital punishment and refusing to participate in wartime recruiting, although he respected volunteers. He campaigned strongly for a 'No' vote in the conscription referenda of 1916-17, arguing that there was no moral right to vote away another's life. The war years rekindled his Irish nationalism. He became vice-president of the Hobart United Irish League in 1916, describing the leaders of the Easter Rising as misguided heroes and urging immediate Home Rule. When the A.L.P. split over conscription, Lyons replaced Earle as leader on 2 November 1916.

After he had matriculated from the Teachers' Training College in 1907, Lyons's intellectual development had been largely based on his reading. He concentrated on nineteenth-century English poets, Charles Dickens , Henry Lawson and Australian nationalist writers. He was a member of a Labor Party discussion group of Fabian hue formed by Lyndhurst Giblin . Between 1909 and 1922 Lyons described himself as a socialist, establishing a reputation as a firebrand. Despite his rhetoric, he did not have a distinctive political ideology and his socialism was thoroughly reformist and ethical. His revulsion at the carnage of World War I, which he blamed on 'the pernicious capitalistic system', spurred him to passionately advocate a new social order through 'revolution … by peaceful means'. After the war Lyons became more cautious and pragmatic, influenced by his prospects in a conservative electorate. The Labor Party was defeated in the 1919 State election. Lyons himself was further badly beaten in December when he stood for the Federal seat of Darwin. As leader of the Opposition, Lyons strongly criticized the finance policies of Sir Walter Lee 's Nationalist government.

His development as a consensual politician was demonstrated in 1922 when he described himself as a friend of all members of the Legislative Assembly. In 1923 he argued that the A.L.P. was not sectional, and was the only party capable of developing comprehensive State policies. These attitudes made him more acceptable to many Nationalists than their own leaders. In October 1923 several Nationalists revolted and brought down Lee's government. Lyons became leader of a minority Labor government with their support. He proceeded cautiously and impartially. With the advice of economists such as Giblin and (Sir) Douglas Copland , and the approval of the Opposition and businessmen, he worked to reform Tasmania's financial structure, pruning expenses, imposing new taxes, reducing loan expenditure, and presenting the State accounts honestly. His successes and the approval of the State Nationalists gave him greater access to the Bruce - Page government and also to the Commonwealth Treasury. Lyons's tactful skills helped in the return of his government in 1925. He sought new industries such as wood pulp and mining.

He referred to the Opposition leader (Sir) John McPhee as his 'colleague and mate' and cultivated the press, but was chagrined when the Nationalists reverted to hard party politics in 1928 and attacked him for rising unemployment and economic stagnation. In the 1928 elections Labor won a slender majority of the vote, but the Nationalists won sixteen of the thirty seats. McPhee became premier, praising Lyons for his statesmanship and offering to serve under him should he leave the A.L.P. Lyons had antagonized sections of his party, particularly the small Left group centred on Hobart trade union leaders, which considered his brief espousal of the 'One Big Union' and the socialization objective in the early 1920s as insincere, and his consensual politics as a betrayal. In 1924 he had contemplated moving to the Federal parliament, 'the better to fight for just treatment' for Tasmania there. Losing the premiership and offside with sections of his party, Lyons was undecided about his future. He made soundings for appointment as a Federal arbitration commissioner.

With the backing of the influential Hobart Mercury, he considered standing for the Senate, but at the request of the Federal A.L.P. leader, James Scullin , he stood for the Federal seat of Wilmot and won convincingly at the elections in October 1929. Scullin appointed him postmaster-general and a senior member of cabinet. Lyons was an established figure in the labour movement, and apart from Edward Theodore was the only minister with administrative experience. Lyons found the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party uncongenial. Accustomed to the parochial Tasmanian Labor Party, he felt little kinship with the machine politics of the Sydney and Melbourne trades halls. He was content to administer his department and made no comment or interjection in parliament unrelated to his portfolio or Tasmania. This preoccupation with administrative and State matters did not save him from caucus critics who felt that his policies were too orthodox. Imbued with respect for conventional economics and orthodox finance, like most Australians of his era, Lyons equated government debt with personal debt and insisted that all commitments had to be fully honoured. He opposed inflation and stressed the importance of balanced budgets and strict loan repayments.

He was aware of Keynes's doctrines, probably through Giblin, but felt that, even if they were correct, experiment was inappropriate for the small Australian economy. Lyons became acting treasurer in August 1930, after Theodore had stood aside, and attended the meeting of Federal and State leaders which adopted the Melbourne Plan, designed to adjust the Australian economy to the impact of the Depression. The British financier Sir Otto Niemeyer described Lyons and Scullin as 'entirely at sea … like a couple of rabbits popping their heads out of the hole'. Despite lack of experience in Federal fiscal administration, Lyons assumed responsibility for implementing the Melbourne Plan which hinged on budgetary restraint. In the absence of Scullin in London, Lyons and the acting prime minister, James Fenton , took the full brunt of criticism within caucus. Lyons was forced to defend orthodox policies against the radicalism of Theodore and those caucus members who supported the New South Wales Labor leader, Jack Lang . Because of temperament and Tasmanian experience Lyons was susceptible to the cautious advice of economists such as Giblin, Copland and (Sir) Leslie Melville, and the orthodox banking principles of Sir Robert Gibson and (Sir) Alfred Davidson .

He believed that significant inflation would bring economic and political chaos, although he was prepared to accept a degree of controlled credit expansion to stimulate industry. Lyons proposed to balance the budget, and to reduce government spending, wages and possibly pensions. A sequence of tumultuous caucus meetings began on 28 October 1930. Lyons presented a plan prepared by the Treasury, proposing the unpegging of exchange rates, stabilization of internal prices through monetary control, reduction of interest rates, and provision of Commonwealth Bank credit for industry. His mildly adventurous proposals were rejected in favour of Theodore's more sweeping proposals for credit creation. Lyons secured an adjournment of the House of Representatives to give the government a chance to devise a compromise. When the whip gagged Opposition expressions of jubilation at cabinet's embarrassment, Lyons voted with the Opposition. He returned to cabinet and threatened resignation if the salaries of senior public servants were not reduced. He won on this issue, but the larger conflict over economic policy was not resolved. Against the advice of Lyons and Theodore, caucus voted to postpone repayment of an overseas loan falling due on 15 December. Lyons said that he would not implement this decision, threatened resignation and went ahead with plans to convert the loan.

Scullin endorsed his actions in cables and publicly praised him, enabling him to defy caucus, which deferred further debate. Lyons's protracted struggle with caucus and his successful defiance gave him national prominence. With assistance from committees of businessmen and non-Labor politicians, the loan was over-subscribed. Lyons spearheaded the successful campaign. But his stature deteriorated within the A.L.P. On 4 December 1930 the Opposition leader, (Sir) John Latham , called for national unity to fight the Depression. Lyons agreed, but caucus rejected Latham's proposal. Lyons was shouted down and rumours were spread that he wanted a coalition government. He vehemently denied it, and challenged his opponents to move a motion of no confidence against him. Lyons's co-operation with a loan conversion committee in Victoria had brought him into association with Melbourne businessmen, civic leaders and non-Labor politicians. A small body, known simply as 'the Group', was formed to sponsor him as a national political leader and to secure his defection from the A.L.P. Its principal members were the financier Staniforth Ricketson , a former journalist whom Lyons had known in Tasmania, and (Sir) Robert Menzies .

Through Menzies Lyons obtained access to National Party networks, including the influential National Union which was the party's principal financial sponsor. Other members of 'the Group' promoted him to powerful business and press interests. Lyons had remained in the government out of loyalty to Scullin, and to resist the radical proposals of Theodore and the increasingly militant Lang. When Scullin returned in mid-January 1931 he affirmed Lyons's policies, but rejected his pleas to take over as treasurer. Scullin restored Theodore as deputy prime minister and treasurer on 26 January, although Theodore had not then been exonerated on the Mungana allegations. Lyons was affronted, believing that Theodore should clear his name before returning to cabinet. With his close supporter Fenton, Lyons resigned from cabinet on 29 January, although both remained in the caucus. Lyons consulted closely with 'the Group' and other supporters in Melbourne. He likened his circumstances at this time to Mahomet's coffin, suspended between heaven and earth and with no true home. Powerful citizen movements emerged, opposing party politics and promoting the tenets of 'sane finance', looking to Lyons to provide non-party leadership.

The moves which precipitated his departure from the A.L.P. are obscure, but 'the Group' and the National Union were principal factors. Lyons agonized for some weeks, but after caucus accepted Theodore's proposals for a fiduciary note issue, he sounded out his few Labor supporters and prepared to defect. Early in March he went to Melbourne and informed 'the Group'. On 13 March he voted for a motion of no confidence in the Scullin government, vindicating his action in a powerful speech, in many ways the finest of his long political career. With four other defectors he formed a 'little band' which had no electoral support; but he shrewdly cultivated the citizen groups with an eye to forming a base, while continuing negotiations with the National Party. By the end of March there was tacit acceptance that Latham would step down for Lyons in a new political movement embracing the citizens' groups. In April these called on Lyons to serve as their leader, and the Nationalists agreed to pursue the unity of all opponents of the Scullin government. Lyons was unwilling to supplant Latham who, however, was forced to step aside by Nationalist pressure.

A United Australia Movement was formed which ultimately incorporated the National Party and the principal citizens' groups. In the Federal parliament, the Lyons group merged with the Nationalists to form the United Australia Party with Latham as Lyons's deputy. Lyons announced the changes in parliament on 7 May amid a torrent of denunciation and recrimination from his former colleagues. Lyons was absorbed in organizing the U.A.P., particularly at the electoral level, leaving much of the parliamentary leadership to Latham. Lyons's indifferent parliamentary performance aroused criticism but his leadership was firmly entrenched by a decisive victory in the elections of December 1931. The U.A.P. won an absolute majority and he formed a government after negotiations with the Country Party had broken down. His immediate task as prime minister was to counter Lang who had sought to repudiate overseas loan payments. In a series of skilful manoeuvres largely devised by Latham and pursued vigorously by Lyons, Lang was forced into increasingly desperate reponses which led to his dismissal by the governor, Sir Philip Game . The U.A.P.

won convincing victories in New South Wales and Victoria in 1932: Australian politics lost much of the turbulence of 1930-32, and Lyons governed for seven years in a climate of relative stability, buttressed by gradual economic improvement. He easily won the 1934 elections, but the U.A.P. lost its absolute majority and he negotiated a coalition with the Country Party under (Sir) Earle Page who became deputy prime minister. The coalition was re-established after Lyons's convincing victory in the 1937 elections. Lyons was content to apply the orthodox economic policies embodied in the Premiers' Plan. He also sought to rekindle the development and welfare objectives of the Bruce-Page government of the 1920s. He tried without success to develop Northern Australia by charter companies, and sought expansion of public works programmes with emphasis on housing and urban infrastructure. He was frustrated in introducing welfare policies by lack of funds and from the opposition on constitutional grounds of Menzies, deputy leader since the 1934 elections. Lyons sponsored a national insurance scheme which parliament approved in 1938, but the Act was never proclaimed.

He took few initiatives in foreign affairs, contenting himself with the reiteration of Imperial sentiments and stressing the primacy of the British navy in Australia's defence. He maintained his opposition to conscription as pressure for rearmament grew in the late 1930s, imposing it on his cabinet colleagues in a rare assertion of policy. Latham's earlier enthusiastic efforts to prosecute communists, and the vigorous censorship and restrictive immigration policies applied by some ministers had given the Lyons government a repressive tinge. In his early years as prime minister, Lyons relied on experienced colleagues such as Latham, Bruce and (Sir) Walter Massy-Greene . These ministers had left the cabinet by 1934 and Lyons depended on Page and on younger colleagues from his own party, notably Richard (Lord) Casey . His relationship with Menzies was ambivalent. There are hints in Lyons's correspondence with his wife that he expected to make way for Menzies after the 1934 elections, but was persuaded to remain by the National Union which considered Menzies immature. Lyons's skills as a consensual politician and co-ordinator were fully deployed in the management of a difficult cabinet.

He acted largely as chairman, using his abilities to present decisions in the best light. This approach led him into errors of judgement, notably over the trade diversion controversy of 1936-37 and the exclusion from Australia in 1936 of a British passport-holder, Mrs Mabel Freer, apparently on moral grounds. For the most part, Lyons was able to contain tensions and avoid political mishaps. His touch with his parliamentary party was just as sure although he sustained occasional rebuffs, notably over tariff adjustments and the timing of the 1937 elections. Much of his energy was devoted to co-ordinating and administering the loosely organized U.A.P. He spent considerable time publicizing his government, holding frequent press conferences and briefing journalists, editors and newspaper proprietors. He sought the assistance of private enterprise groups in economic reconstruction. Lyons won three successive elections convincingly, a performance then unmatched by any other prime minister.

His victories in 1931 and 1934 were certainly assisted by bitter divisions within the A.L.P., but he overcame formidable difficulties, including his own declining health and disillusionment within the electorate and the U.A.P., to defeat a rejuvenated Labor Party under John Curtin in 1937. Lyons innovatively made extensive use of air travel and placed emphasis on radio broadcasting. His parliamentary skills were outstanding, Menzies describing him as the finest parliamentarian he had seen in action. Despite increasing exhaustion, Lyons maintained the stability of his government until the final months before his death, but his increasing desperation was revealed in letters to his wife. He wrote in May 1938: 'It is just dreadful to come back to what always awaits me here [Canberra] but I suppose one day it will come to an end'. He found solace and relief in official visits to Europe and the United States of America in 1935 and 1937.

Menzies, who accompanied him in 1935, effusively praised his extempore speeches and public performance, although he noted with distaste the relish of Lyons and his wife for official travel, observing that both were 'over-inclined to extract the last drop of juice from the orange'. Lyons was deeply affected by his visits to Australian war cemeteries in France and Belgium, which reinforced his pacifist and anti-conscription convictions. His final months were miserable as his government became increasingly unstable. Apart from Menzies, there were other threats, particularly from Charles Hawker . According to Enid Lyons, Hawker was on his way to Canberra to challenge Lyons when he was killed in a plane crash in October 1938. Lyons lost the support of (Sir) Henry Gullett to whom he had been extremely loyal during the trade diversion controversy, and he came to doubt even Casey's loyalty. Although Menzies never issued a direct challenge, he made pointed public comments about lack of national leadership; through 1938-39 his claims were advanced in the newspapers of Sir Keith Murdoch , previously an enthusiastic supporter of Lyons.

He retained the support of the National Union, the U.A.P. State branches and most federal parliamentarians, and was able to thwart the implicit Menzies challenge in the final months of 1938. On 14 March 1939 Menzies resigned from cabinet because of the deferment of the national insurance scheme. Sensing that a direct challenge to his leadership was inevitable, Lyons urged Bruce to return from London to take over, but he insisted on impossible conditions, including a national government. Despite these pressures there were signs in this period that Lyons was emerging as a more assertive and decisive figure, ready to confront his opponents. There is evidence that he would not have submitted to Menzies without a struggle. Lyons died in Sydney Hospital on 7 April 1939 from coronary occlusion. After memorial services in Sydney and Canberra, his body was conveyed in state by an Australian navy vessel to Devonport in Tasmania where he was buried. He was survived by (Dame) Enid, six daughters and five sons of whom Kevin became deputy premier of Tasmania in the Liberal ministry of Angus Bethune . Lyons's estate amounted to £344.

Lyons was the first prime minister to use the official lodge in Canberra as a family home. The large family was often split, with Lyons looking after three or four of the children at the lodge with the assistance of domestic staff. He was often photographed in the grounds flanked by his children. His closest political ally and adviser was his wife, who became a minister in the post-war Menzies government. His devotion to her emerges in the tender letters of their courtship, one of the few surviving documentations of the intimate relationships of an Australian prime minister. His first act as prime minister in January 1932 was to write to Enid, 'because whatever honours or distinctions come are ours, not mine'. His letters through the 1930s reflected his distress at frequent family separations and his bouts of despair: 'I wish they would defeat us and we'd be out of our misery and get a little happiness'. Other letters display a vulgar touch: 'Foll says the Country Party are like copulating cats, getting all they want and crying out all the time'.

Above all, the correspondence shows his spirit of resignation and his firm belief that he had done his duty: 'Neither you nor I can put everything right and we saved Australia from ruin. Think of the homes that are happy because of what we did and realise that no-one is unhappy because of what we did'. Lyons was plump, of medium stature, upright in bearing, with blue eyes and an unruly mop of blond hair. Caricatured as a koala, he had a thin, longish nose and a high forehead, and in his later years walked with a marked limp, the legacy of a car accident. His voice was a little high pitched. He was an enthusiastic sportsman in his youth, playing cricket and football, cycling, and running in the Burnie Gift. He attributed his physical durability to the residue of fitness built up when young. A portrait by William McInnes hangs in Parliament House. In later years Lyons sought relaxation with occasional games of golf and billiards, and visits to the cinema with his driver. As prime minister he attended Mass each Sunday at Manuka parish church in Canberra. He was a moderate drinker, usually of Scotch.

Despite his apparent simplicity and the conventional stereotype of 'Honest Joe', Lyons had an enigmatic and elusive personality. The New South Wales premier, (Sir) Bertram Stevens , who admired and respected him, felt that there was a studied aspect to his populism, although it was fundamental to his nature. (Dame) Mary Gilmore emphasized his populist appeal, describing him as 'deeper and wider than party'. Charles Hawker, who opposed his leadership, described his conservatism as that 'of the man with small savings, a home of [his] own'. Lyons's critics stressed his plebeian qualities and their manifestation in his political leadership. According to the Labor newspaper, the World, Lyons was the victim of a suburban personality, 'an eminently well-meaning dullard'. Perhaps the greatest tribute to his political skills was the rapid disintegration of the U.A.P. after his death. His major achievements were reform of the Tasmanian financial structure and the stability of government he brought to Australian society during the difficult years of the Depression and the drift to World War II. Select Bibliography E. M. Lyons, So We Take Comfort (Lond, 1965) E. M.

Lyons, Among the Carrion Crows (Adel, 1972) P. Hart, J. A. Lyons: A Political Biography (Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1967) C. J. Lloyd, The Formation and Development of the UAP, 1929-37 (Ph.D. thesis, Australian National University, 1984) Joseph Lyons official papers (National Archives of Australia) Joseph Lyons personal papers (National Library of Australia) A. Clark, taped interviews with Dame Enid Lyons (privately held) Dame Enid Lyons personal papers (National Library of Australia).

Related Entries in NCB Sites Fast facts - Joseph Lyons - Fast facts - Australia's Prime Ministers AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTERS 15 September 1879, Stanley, Tasmania Education: Stanley state school, Tasmania (1891–97); Hobart Teacher Training College (1907) Employment: Roman Catholic Church; Hobart United Irish League Marriage: 28 April 1915, Wynyard, Tasmania Children: Desmond (1916); Sheila (1918); Enid (1919); Kathleen (1920); Moira (1922); Kevin (1923); Garnet (1924); Brendan (1926); Barry (1927); Rosemary (1929); Peter (1931); Janice (1933) Died: 7 April 1939, Darlinghurst, Sydney Buried: Privy Councillor (1932); Companion of Honour (1936) Enid Muriel LYONS (née BURNELL) Born: 9 July 1897, Duck River (Smithton), Tasmania

 Memberships: Methodist Church (1897–1915); Roman Catholic Church (1915–81); Australian Labor Party; Victoria League (1913–81; United Australia Party (1931–44); Australian Women’s National League; Liberal Party (1944–81); Housewives Association; Country Women’s League Died: 2 September 1981, Ulverstone, Tasmania (buried Devonport, Tasmania) Honours: DBE (1937); Honorary Fellow, Australian College of Nursing; Dame of the Order of Australia (1980) Political profile 6 January 1932 – 7 April 1939 Terms as MP: Tasmanian Legislative Assembly: 1909 – 1928 (Wilmot Tasmania) Premier October 1923 – June 1928 House of Representatives: 20 November 1929 – 7 April 1939 (Wilmot) Portfolios: Postmaster-General: 22 October 1929 – 4 February 1931 Works and Railways: 22

 October 1929 – 4 February 1931 Treasurer: 6 January 1932 – 3 October 1935 Commerce: 3–13 October 1932 Repatriation: 8 November 1935 – 6 February 193 Health: 8 November 1935 – 26 February 1936 Defence: 20 – 29 November 1937 Political memberships: Workers Political League and Australian Labor Party (1907 – March 1931); United Australia Party (March 1931 – April 1939) After: Prime Minister - Joseph Aloysius Lyons Section Menu (Alt+m) Scullin went overseas from August 1930-January 1931 for the Imperial Conference and Lyons served as Acting Treasurer.

In October 1930 Lyons presented a plan of moderate action, drawn up by Treasury, to the ALP Caucus. This was for a balanced budget and a reduction in government expenditure, including reduced salaries for public servants. It also featured stabilisation of internal prices through monetary controls, reduced interest rates and provision of credit for industry to stimulate production. Caucus rejected his plan in favour of more radical, inflationary proposals by Theodore for creating credit and expanding the deficit. Caucus then went even further, against the advice of both Lyons and Theodore, to defer repayment of an overseas loan due on 15 December. Lyons, threatening to resign, refused to defer the repayment, and was supported by cables from Scullin. Lyons' difficulties with the ALP Caucus continued throughout December 1930-January 1931. Caucus accused him of collaborating with Opposition Leader, J.G. Latham, who was suggesting a cross-party government of national unity. When Scullin returned to Australia on 6 January 1931, he affirmed Lyons' policies as Acting Treasurer, but ignored his wish to become Treasurer. Instead, he had Theodore reinstated as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister. E.G.

Theodore had been Treasurer in J.H. Scullin's ALP government and had been forced to resign. He was forced to resign when a Queensland Royal Commission found that as Premier in 1919 he had defrauded state government of £30,000 in the sale of mines at Mungana. After a Queensland court cleared Theodore of charges arising from the Mungana affair, Scullin persuaded Caucus to reinstate him as Treasurer. Lyons, who did not believe Theodore had yet cleared his name, resigned in protest on 29 January 1931. Resigning from Scullin's ministry was far from a leap into the wilderness. Through their obstinacy in confronting Caucus over the issue of responsible economic management, Lyons and Fenton had attracted a prominent set of conservative supporters. Known as "the Group", these conservatives included Robert Menzies. Encouraged by Melbourne business interests he became the principal figure in a new body, the 'All For Australia League', which formed from ALP defectors and dissident Nationalists.

In March-May 1931 the league worked to establish a new party, the United Australia Party (UAP), from the merger of Lyons' followers, the Nationalists and anti-Labor citizens' groups. Lyons was elected to UAP leadership unopposed. Lyons announced the new Opposition arrangements in parliament on 7 May 1931, to the accompaniment of vehement denunciations from his former ALP comrades. When the Lang Labor dissidents moved against Scullin late in the parliamentary session, he joined them in securing the fall of the government. After the Opposition had brought down Scullin's government with the aid of the Lang Labor group, Lyons led the UAP to a decisive victory at the general election on 19 December 1931. He assumed Prime Ministership on 6 January 1932. The victory of the United Australia Party at the subsequent election meant that in less than a year, Joseph Lyons had transformed himself from dissident and defector to Prime Minister. Lyons' first major task as Prime Minister was to deal with an action by J.T.

Lang's government in New South Wales, which had decided to withhold interest payments on British loans, in defiance of the federal government. To maintain faith with the bond holders, Lyons' government paid the interest, then passed the Financial Agreement Enforcement Act to recoup the moneys by appropriating New South Wales funds. The problem was resolved on 13 May 1932 when the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Game, dismissed Lang. Lyons came to power while Australia was still in the toils of the Depression. And he held power during those fateful years of the 1930s when the world economies slowly recovered but the democracies had to face the emerging threat of the German, Italian and Japanese military dictatorships. Lyons, as an Irish Catholic, had been an anti-conscription activist during the First World War and, like any sensible man, he hated the waste and horror of war. But it fell to him, as Prime Minister, to prepare Australia for another war at a time when the armed forces had been allowed to run down to a mere skeleton. His government began to re-equip the Army, double voluntary recruitment and strengthen the RAAF and the RAN.

It also broadened the industrial base essential for the war effort by opening the first Commonwealth Aircraft Factory and planning munitions works and shipyards. With the political and financial crises of 1931-32 behind him, Lyons settled into his role as head of the UAP government. His government implemented the Premiers' Plan for handling the depression which the former Scullin ALP government had devised. He led the UAP to victory at the general elections on 15 September 1934, and 23 October 1937. At the October election the UAP lost its absolute majority, and was forced to enter into coalition with the Country Party, whose leader, Earle Page, became Deputy Prime Minister. Lyons' chief success as Prime Minister was to restore stability to the government following the onset of the Great Depression, and turbulent events surrounding the ALP split of 1931. He also succeeded in holding the UAP together for seven years. As Prime Minister he had considerable popular appeal, his reputation as a 'family man' helping him out here.

(The Lyons family was the first to use the Prime Minister's Lodge in Canberra as a family home.) By late 1938-early 1939, Lyons, now ailing, began losing control of the UAP as several potential challenges to his leadership emerged. To restore unity, he tried to persuade S.M. Bruce, the former Nationalist Prime Minister, to return to parliament and become UAP leader. These negotiations broke down, however. Among Lyons' chief critics was R.G. Menzies, his Attorney-General, Minister for Industry and UAP deputy leader, who resigned these positions on 20 March 1939 in protest over the government's failure to implement its national insurance scheme. Lyons' health began to fail as he came under increasing pressure from tensions within the UAP, from a revitalised ALP (now under John Curtin's leadership) and from criticism of Australia's defence as a second World War became more likely. The coalition forced him into consensus politics and inevitably he could not please everyone. Menzies described him as "the best parliamentarian I've ever known". But others, pushing for their own advantages, disliked him.

As the shadows of impending war darkened, he became more decisive and determined, but letters to his wife during his final year in government reveal the unhappiness of a man under many conflicting pressures. No doubt they contributed to his fatal heart attack in April 1939. On 7 April 1939, Joseph Lyons became the first Prime Minister to die in office. He had driven from The Lodge in Canberra to Sydney, en route to his home in Tasmania for Easter, when he suffered a heart attack, dying in hospital in Sydney, on Good Friday. He was nicknamed 'Honest Joe'. He was the first Australian Prime Minister to die in office. He was in federal parliament for only two years when he became Prime Minister. The only Tasmanian to become Prime Minister. He was the first PM to win three successive elections. He was one of only two Prime Ministers who had been Premiers (the other was George Reid, in 1904). He was the second Australian to receive the Companion of Honour (SM Bruce was the first). Dame Enid Lyons (his wife) became the first woman in the House of Representatives & the first woman member of Federal Cabinet. She was also the first woman member of Federal Cabinet.

The reference material used to compile this page is listed below: The National Archives Of Australia. Luscombe, T.R., 'The Two Prime Ministers: James Scullin and Joseph Lyons', in Builders and Crusaders, Lansdowne, Melbourne, 1967: 156-74 Hart, Phillip R., 'Lyons: Labour Minister - Leader of the UAP', Labour History, no. 17, 1970: 37-51. Hart, Philip R., 'J.A. Lyons: Labour Leader', Labour History, no.9, November 1965: 33-42. Stevens, B.S.B.,'J.A. Lyons', Australian Quarterly, v.11, no.2, June 1939: 5-8.

White, Kate, Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia 1932-1939, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2000 Hughes, CA, Mr Prime Minister: Australian Prime Ministers 1901-72, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1976 Souter, Gavin, Acts of Parliament, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988 Dictionary of National Biography 1931-40, Oxford University Press, London, 949: 552-4. Hart, Philip R., 'J.A. Lyons: A Political Biography', PhD Thesis, Australian National University, 1967. 'The Appeal of Joe Lyons', Australia's Heritage, v.6, pt.82, 1972: 1964-8. 'Dictionary of Famous Australians' Ann Atkinson (Allen & Unwin, 1995) Joseph Lyons, Australian Tenth Prime Minister, Biography About Joseph Lyons: Early life and Education: Joseph Aloysius Lyons, the tenth Prime Minister of Australia was born on 15 September 1879 at Stanley, Tasmania.

He was born to an Irish-born couple Michael Henry Lyons and his wife Ellen, née Carroll. He became Prime Minister of Australia in January 1932 and held the position until his death in April 1939. He was the first Australian Prime Minister who died in his office. His schooling was at St Joseph's Convent School, Ulverstone. Later John Scott, a teacher at Stanley State School helped him find a job. He joined as a monitor, assisting the education of younger children. He taught at small country schools. He proved himself good at debating and very soon he became an efficient platform speaker. On 28 April 1915 he married Enid Muriel Burnell and they had twelve children. He was a member of Roman Catholic Church and Hobart United Irish League. Political Life: He entered politics by joining the North-West League of the Workers' Political League. But the education department was against his involvement in politics. Subsequent clashes between him and the Education Department forced him resume his political career as a critic of the education system. In 1909 he resigned from his teaching job to contest the State seat of Wilmot for Labor.

He won the election and addressed mainly educational issues in the parliament including the need for post-primary state schools and equal pay for women teachers. He also served as president of the State branch, deputy leader of the Parliamentary Labor Party, treasurer, minister for education and minister for railways. He played a vital role in the reformation of education system.While he was the Prime Minister, he took the Treasury portfolio and advocated a program aiming at reducing debt and government expenditure. Lyons died on 7th April 1939, at Darlinghurst, Sydney. His body was buried in the Tasmanian soil at Devonport. The honors bestowed on him include Privy Councillor (1932) and Companion of Honour (1936). Joseph Aloysius Lyons | prime minister of Australia | Britannica.com prime minister of Australia Kevin Rudd Joseph Aloysius Lyons, (born September 15, 1879, Stanley , Tasmania [Australia]—died April 7, 1939, Sydney ), Australian statesman who helped form the United Australia Party in 1931.

As prime minister (1932–39), he saw the country’s economic recovery from the Great Depression and increased defense activity. Joseph Aloysius Lyons © UPI/Corbis At the age of 17, Lyons became a teacher in the Education Department and was elected a Labor member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in 1909. As Tasmania’s first Labor premier (1923–28), he sponsored bills to encourage industry and to provide welfare benefits for public employees. He was elected to the Australian federal Parliament in 1929 and served as postmaster general and minister for public works and railways until 1931, when he resigned to lead the newly formed United Australia Party to victory in the elections. Lyons’ ministry benefited from worldwide economic recovery and achieved a government surplus in 1934, along with a continuing decline in unemployment and diversification of industry. Concerned about European instability and Japanese aggression in China in the mid-1930s, he sponsored expansion of the nation’s military forces. His government gave some aid to cultural activity, scientific research, and public health. Lyons died in office.

His wife, Dame Enid Lyons, continued a public career and became the first woman to hold ministerial office in Australia . Learn More in these related articles: In office - Joseph Lyons - Australia's PMs - Australia's Prime Ministers AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTERS The people’s Prime Minister Joseph Lyons was Prime Minister for seven years. His term was only ten days less than the then record term of WM Hughes . Lyons was a very successful electoral campaigner, with Enid Lyons a major factor in his winning popularity and appeal. With their family home in Tasmania, and the need to meet as many voters as possible, Lyons was the first Prime Minister to use an aeroplane to campaign. His reputation as a cautious financial manager brought him into office, but outlasted the 1930s Depression. The stability of his government demanded careful management and there was a record level of ministerial reshuffling throughout his term. Steady hand on the till Joseph Lyons achieved the prime ministership because of his persistent pursuit of a fiscal path through the Depression years. In office he delivered what was expected of him.

He took the Treasury portfolio and instituted the program he had advocated in 1930 and 1931 of reducing debt and government spending. Lyons became the bulwark against inflation and a guarantor of debt conversion, not default. This suited his Melbourne backers, the London bankers and the Australian voters who had resoundingly returned his government. It was not everywhere seen as the best economic solution. Opponents cited the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes and, from 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ’s ‘New Deal’ policies in the United States, in support of more assertive economic policies to tackle the social effects of the Depression. More troublesome for Lyons, however, were deep differences over tariff policy at home. Country Party leader Earle Page was hailed by Lord Beaverbrook as the champion of imperial preference, in anticipation of a wider agreement on the position taken by the Bruce –Page government. The compromise agreement at the Imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa in July and August 1932 not only disappointed the champions of free trade in England, but provoked dissent within the United Australia Party, as well as opposition from the Country Party.

In October 1933, Lyons’ co-founder of the United Australia Party, James Fenton , resigned from Cabinet over the lack of industry protection in the government’s tariff schedules. At the same time, Page attacked from the opposite position, condemning Lyons’ government for ‘the barren results’ of the Ottawa Conference. Lyons’ consensual approach was fully tested on this issue throughout his term in office. Cabinet with a revolving door Although in the lead-up to the December 1931 election, Joseph Lyons and Earle Page had anticipated a coalition government, the success of the United Australia Party made an alliance with the Country Party unnecessary, at least at first. The second Cabinet re-shuffle in the first year of Lyons’ government. Lyons and the Governor-General, Sir Isaac Isaacs (seated) after the swearing-in of new Postmaster-General Archdale Parkhill, Minister for the Interior John Perkins, and Minister for Commerce FH Stewart. Also pictured are the Governor-General’s secretary, LS Bracegirdle, his new aide-de-camp Basil Finlay, and the secretary to the Executive Council, John Starling.

NAA: A3560, 6257 Lyons’ first ministry was made up of United Australia Party members. The ministry comprised JG Latham (Attorney-General and Minister for External Affairs), George Pearce (Defence Minister), Henry Gullett (Trade and Customs), James Fenton (Postmaster-General), Archdale Parkhill (Minister for Home Affairs), Charles Marr (Minister for Works and Railways, for Health, and for Territories), Charles Hawker (Minister for Repatriation, and for Markets) and Senator Alexander McLachlan (Minister in charge of development of Scientific and Industrial Research, and Vice-President of the Executive Council). With Lyons as Prime Minister and Treasurer and Josiah Francis as a minister without portfolio negotiating trade treaties, this made a Cabinet of ten. Lyons also appointed SM Bruce , Francis, John Perkins and Senator Walter Greene as assistant ministers. But even in this first ministry, from January 1932 to November 1934, there were almost as many changes as months.

Leaving aside changes for external reasons such as SM Bruce’s appointment as High Commissioner in London in 1933, JG Latham’s elevation to the High Court in 1934, or the special portfolio established for the royal visit at the end of that year, this was a level of change exceeding even Hughes’ last ministry. An appointment of convenience like the creation in September 1932 of a ‘minister without portfolio in London’, where SM Bruce was attending to the family firm Paterson Laing and Bruce, obliged the former Prime Minister much more than the new Cabinet. Lyons himself was targeted, with Page in March 1934 attempting to negotiate SM Bruce’s return to take leadership of the United Australia Party. From November 1934, Lyons governed in coalition, with seven Country Party ministers ( Earle Page , Harold Thorby , Tom Paterson , John McEwen , James Hunter , Victor Thompson and Archie Cameron ) holding various portfolios from then until the end of the caretaker ministry of Earle Page, three weeks after Lyons’ death in April 1939.

Lyons’ two coalition ministries reflected the loss of seats in both Houses to Labor in the 1934 and 1937 elections. The inclusion of Country Party members created a Cabinet that included two future Prime Ministers (Earle Page and John McEwen), as well as former Prime Minister WM Hughes , and another future Prime Minister, newcomer Robert Menzies . Latham’s seat of Kooyong was won by Menzies at the 1934 election, and he succeeded Latham as Attorney-General. A letter from the Lyons’ 12-year-old daughter in August 1934, congratulating her father on a speech she heard on the radio and asking him for a copy. NAA: CP103/19, 58 Even key portfolios experienced change. There were four defence ministers in four years and Lyons yielded Treasury to RG Casey in October 1935. Lyons was forced to suspend Hughes when Cabinet moved to support the League of Nations policy of sanctions against aggressor countries, just as Hughes’ book arguing that this would lead to another war appeared.

In October 1938, Charles Hawker , dropped from the ministry in 1932 and apparently on his way to challenge Lyons’ leadership of the United Australia Party, was killed when his plane crashed in Victoria. Five months later (three weeks before Lyons’ death), Robert Menzies resigned as Attorney-General in protest at Cabinet’s delay in introducing national insurance legislation. The people’s Prime Minister Lyons enjoyed widespread popularity with voters. He seized the opportunity to cover more country in the pioneering days of air travel. In the 1934 election campaign, Lyons was piloted by Charles Ulm in the legendary ‘Faith in Australia’, to the delight of his children, who asked him for the famous aviator’s autograph. For the 1937 election alone he travelled 9600 kilometres to hold 43 meetings in as many days. By July 1938, he had travelled 480,000 kilometres. SM Bruce and James Scullin had both begun to use radio and newsreel film for campaigning and for keeping in touch with a far-flung prime ministerial constituency.

Lyons added to his talents as a debater, a homely style and an apparent enjoyment in everyday things. He retained a reputation as a popular and loved figure, with an equally popular and able politician in his wife, Enid Lyons. But by 1939, Lyons’ decreasing ability to hold his government together and Labor’s gains in the 1934 and 1937 elections had brought his leadership into question. Sources Hughes, CA, Mr Prime Minister: Australian Prime Ministers 1901–72, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1976. Lyons, Enid, So We Take Comfort, William Heinemann, Melbourne, 1965. Page, Sir Earle, Truant Surgeon: The Inside Story of Forty Years of Australian Political Life, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1963. Souter, Gavin, Acts of Parliament, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1988. White, Kate, Joseph Lyons, Prime Minister of Australia 1932–1939, Black Inc., Melbourne, 2000.

Joseph Aloysius Lyons - Fact sheet 76 – National Archives of Australia, Australian Government Joseph Aloysius Lyons – Fact sheet 76 Joseph Aloysius Lyons (NLA: MS4851) Prime Minister of Australia 1932–39 A former Labor Premier of Tasmania (1916–19 and 1923–28) Joseph Lyons entered federal parliament in the 1929 elections, becoming Postmaster-General in the Scullin Government that was swept to power by that poll. Labor had not been in power federally since 1917, and it was only Lyons and former Queensland Premier ‘Ted’ Theodore who brought ministerial experience to the new government. Resigning from the Government and the Labor Party in 1931, Lyons and a small group of supporters joined with the John Latham-led Nationalists to form the United Australia Party (UAP). Lyons became leader of the UAP, and subsequently Prime Minister and Treasurer when the Party won the election held in December 1931.

A coalition formed with the Country Party in 1934 kept Lyons as Prime Minister, although he handed the Treasury portfolio to Richard Gardiner Casey the following year. Through a mixture of caution and sound financial management the Lyons government led Australia out of the depths of the Great Depression. During his time in office, Lyons also covered the portfolios of Commerce (1932), Health (1935–36), Repatriation (1935–36) and Defence (1937). Joseph Lyons died in office on 7 April 1939. Research guide - Joseph Lyons: Guide to the Archives of Australia’s Prime Ministers Records relating to Joseph Lyons held by the National Archives The National Archives holds a collection of Lyons’ personal records, and many records about Lyons and the issues he was involved in during his years in government. Lyons’ personal records, and a selection of records about him, are listed below. In the tables below, reference numbers direct you to the item or series in RecordSearch , the Archives database. There you can find more information. In many cases you can view entire digitised records. The information will appear in a new browser window. Personal records of Joseph Lyons

Question: Joseph Lyons became Prime Minister of which country in 1932?
Answer: Australia